Never Means Forever, Stupid
by My-name-is-foxglove
Summary: /RanAk 50 sentences/ #20 – Picture: Akane gleefully searches for a frame to hold their first ever family photo, and though Ranma rolls his eyes, he's secretly eyeing one or two of them too.


**_Title:_** Never Means Forever, Stupid  
**_Fandom:_** Ranma 1/2  
**_Characters/Pairings:_** Ranma and Akane, as characters and couple.  
**_Theme set:_**Epsilon  
**_Rating:_** T  
**_Warning[s]/Notes:_** For Meg-chan (dqbunny) from LiveJournal- thanks for your donation to Help Haiti!

* * *

#01 – Motion

They can spin and spin and spin him around until the world ends, but –though they aren't a couple, though this fiancé business was never their decision, though he calls her names- he _won't let her go_, even with his dying breath.

#02 – Cool

The feel of his neck is cool against her fevered skin when he hugs her, and for a senseless moment, she doesn't want him to move away.

#03 – Young

They're still young, still stumbling their way along the road of life, only just learning what things like 'love' and 'hate' mean- can you blame such children for not yet knowing how to put their childish taunts behind them and just grow up, side by side?

#04 – Last

Last chance, last chance, don't mess this up, you _can't_ mess this up, you've got to make her open her eyes, get back that reason you always get up after every fight, hurry up, hurry up, **_you can't mess this up!_**

#05 - Wrong

_She was **gone**, just like that, going ahead of him with a **smile** like she was glad it was her who'd died and not him, even when it was all his fault, _his_ fault, (why hadn't he moved, why hadn't he done something, why hadn't he saved her like he always did, why, why, **why** was he so weak and she so strong whenever it actually mattered?) he didn't even know what he was saying anymore, his mouth was moving and words were coming out but he was already dead the moment she went, see, already dead, he couldn't live without her_- Ranma screamed himself hoarse, making his voice rise and rise above the Jusenkyo springs, the mountain tops, the sky and the Earth, just somehow trying to reach the heavens where she would've gone with only his voice to drag her back to his side, because **yes** he was selfish and he was stubborn_, just like her_, so she had better fdamned prove him wrong and open her ey- _"Ran...ma."._

#06 - Gentle

Akane wouldn't ever admit it, but she took a deep, guilty pleasure in the affection Ranma lavished upon her whenever he was using the Neko-ken; it was like a shining light in a shadow filled world of doubt, saying, look: he loves you.

#07 – One

They were just two pieces of paper with their names on it, it wasn't like there was really anything to that mumbo jumbo the old guy said, it wasn't like he really _cared_ whether his name and her name were tied together...it was just, that...well, two papers were better than one, right?

#08 – Thousand

She used to be among the best martial artists in Nerima before he showed up- now she feels like even if she trained for a thousand days and night she would barely be able to hold her own against even Ukyo; it vexes her, because it just shows how small a blip she is on that big fighting-and-winning martial arts radar of his (what she doesn't know is: although she's just a small blip in the fighting department, in Ranma's heart, she takes up all the room).

#09 – King

There are times when he pops up so suddenly and roughly to grab her attention that Akane can't help but wonder if he's doing it on purpose- always making sure her affection or ire are directed towards himself only in some twisted method of becoming the king of her attention (what's even more twisted is that it's somehow worked).

#10 – Learn

The two are awkward and nervous whenever things come to romance- but like this, hands held together, walking the long road back home; just like this, they're slowly learning.

#11 – Blur

He hates it when her eyes blur behind those salty tears of hers- he's hurt her, again, the stupid foot-in-mouth-diseased fool that he is, and he doesn't know how he can make it better.

#12 – Wait

She could be curled up in her room right now, with the lights off and her tired eyes anxiously glued to the clock as bloody images run rampant in her tortured mind- that's how women usually wait for their fiancés to come back from battles, but Akane can't do that, and she won't do that either (she will be right there to see every bruise, every cut, every hit and loss and victory, because he is Ranma and she is Akane and they both know that strengthening feeling of having a loved one cheer you on from the sidelines).

#13 – Change

She glances at him from the corner of her eye, and turns away with her face scarlet when she catches him doing the same (it's been a month now, and she's only just getting used to him walking beside her and not on the fence).

#14 – Command

"Okay...Okay, maybe I'll try and be straight forward! Like..like: Akane, I'm sorry for wrecking your...thing. I-I mean, pie. No, was it curry? Wait, Akane, put the tray _down_! ...Oh man, she's even beatin' me up in my head!"

#15 – Hold

Twenty seven years old and he's graduated high school, married Akane without getting food poisoning, become Master of the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts- so, seeing all that, he can handle this, he can handle this, he should be able to handle this, if he could just figure out _how to-_ "Baka Ranma...just come over here and I'll teach you how to hold your daughter, okay?"

#16 – Need

She wouldn't admit how much she missed him on those few occasions he went somewhere without her (just like how he wouldn't admit he felt slightly comforted by the presence of the toxic lunch she prepared for him- even if it did make him sick).

#17 – Vision

He squeezes her shaking hand once, twice and a third time before they roll him into surgery- as the anaesthesia begins to take over, Ranma wonders: if his sight is restored, can he finally see her smile look as beautiful as it feels under his fingers?

#18 – Attention

Ranma's mind is in chaos as the General calls him and his troops to attention; he's been in countless battles, survived numerous war zones, taken out hundreds of enemy ships, but- but he has never found himself in such a dangerous, uncertain situation as falling in love- and with his uncute, short-tempered Lieutenant, of all people!

#19 – Soul

There's one particular long-haired lady with a happy smile drifting around the Tendo household, though no one quite notices her; she cheerfully eyes the Saotome boy as he argues with her youngest girl before turning away, still giggling at the sight of their familiar red thread (Mrs Tendo just can't wait for her first grandchildren).

#20 – Picture

Akane gleefully searches for a frame to hold their first ever family photo, and though Ranma rolls his eyes, he's secretly eyeing one or two of them too.

#21 – Fool

She's always calling him stupid and right now, as the thrice damned source of all this mess collapses to the floor and she tearfully apologises, as he numbly lifts a hand to his stinging, _so much more painful than any other wound _cheek- right now he feels like such a fool for...for always, deep inside of him, always thinking that...no matter the circumstances, always thinking...(_always thinking that she was **his**_).

#22 – Mad

He's never felt any rage quite like the helpless fury that rushes through his veins when he realises that, all because of that damned Saffron's selfishness, Akane was almost...

#23 – Child

Akane is holding their second child within her now, and as their tiny daughter reaches for Ranma's finger from her crib, he's surprised to think that he wouldn't mind a third or fourth to follow.

#24 – Now

"It's been fun, Original Ranma. I...though I'm just another clone in a sea of clones, I...I've got an Akane too, y'know? She's beautiful, an'-an' short tempered an' a real violent tomboy when she's mad...but I wouldn't trade her for the world. So, don't feel guilty about what you did, 'k? I would've...an' I think the other clones too, yeah, I think they would've too...I think we all would've done the same. In a heartbeat."

#25 – Shadow

When they spar, Ranma and Akane's shadows dance.

#26 – Goodbye

She'll call him names and give him indecipherable glares, but she just can't say goodbye- it makes him moving back in with his Mother seem so much more worse than it already is.

#27 – Hide

"Akane, come on, I'm sure the dress looks grea-...gwufa...geah...aguah...w-w-whoa."

#28 – Fortune

"Well then, let's see what the fortune cookie has to say about your marriage, hmm? 'The second time around, you should just elope,' ...Oh my."

#29 – Safe

Maybe Ranma's just being paranoid, replacing all cutleries with plastic, searching visitors with a metal detector, almost taking down the fish monger for shaking Akane's hand...but, really, could he be expected to _not_ be protective over his wife and the developing being within her slowly growing stomach?

#30 – Ghost

Ranma was tempted to take Akane through the haunted house, but dismissed the idea with a shake of his head (yes, he liked it when she relied on him to 'save her', but he didn't want to knowingly take her somewhere she'd be scared- especially when she was looking so happy just walking along with him right now).

#31 – Book

Nabiki is a surprisingly doting aunt, as proved by the stacks of photo albums devoted entirely to her nieces and nephew (but, Nabiki being Nabiki, she only tells Ranma and Akane about these to make sure that they don't find out about her photo albums of _them_ in their youth).

#32 – Eye

There is always a moment after his revivals from unconsciousness when he can't see, and the first terrifying thought to come to his mind at these times is that he may have really lost his sight this time, and what if he never sees her face again?

#33 – Never

"You- are so stupid! Did you really think I meant it all those times I said I'd never marry you? You- that- our parents-! ARGH! Never doesn't ever _mean_ 'never' between us, does it? We use it all the time when we argue and I...I'm- I'm _willing_ to be your spouse...**forever**!"

#34 – Sing

Ranma wasn't pleased about this whole 'Akane singing in front of all her crazed fanboys' thing, but if it got them off his back and accepting the engagement he would have to put up with it (on the bright side, she did look sorta cute in that dress...).

#35 – Sudden

One day, he just glances at her for no reason in particular, and his feelings hit him like a torpedo out of nowhere.

#36 – Stop

The conductor angrily yells for them to stop and Ranma wants to sink into his seat- he's supposed to be the best piano player in the school, but, like an amateur, he got distracted by Akane and missed a beat.

#37 – Time

Father Time told her to search through the eras for her true love- and though she's researched every type of man from samurai to scientist, she never expected her soul mate to be this- this annoying _jerk_ of a cowboy!

#38 – Wash

Akane comes out of the bathroom soaking wet after bathing the kids, and Ranma can't help but grin suggestively before she hits him upside the head.

#39 – Torn

Ranma's ideal reaction to a man flirting on Akane would be to grab his fiancé by the waist in a "she's mine" claim and beat the hell out of him at the same time- but he's always so torn in between the two, he usually ends up doing the latter out of pure frustration.

#40 – History

"Ah, look, look- that's Akane-sempai and her fiancé- erm...Ranma, I think was his name. They're such a cute couple, don't you think? I hear they've been together for years, just waiting for graduation till they get married! It's _so_ romantic~!"

#41 – Power

Without strength, he couldn't do anything- he couldn't win tournaments, he couldn't defend himself, he couldn't bring honour to the doujo, he couldn't protect Akane...without strength, he was nothing, so why did she keep insisting otherwise?

#42 – Bother

They've each called the other an annoyance at least 83 times in their many fights, but they never quite mentioned the part about them not minding the annoyance.

#43 – God

He's not a religious type of guy- but if Ranma ever recalls the one time in his life he actually, really truly _prayed_, his hand always tightens, just a little bit, on hers _(sometimes, his throat still feels raw from screaming)._

#44 – Wall

At times, it feels like there's this great, thick wall between them that he can't hope to break through; and at other times, it feels like all he needs to do is close his eyes, reach out and take her hand- because there's no wall, no obstacles, nothing but them.

#45 – Naked

Ranma decides that he likes this; waking up with an arm around Akane, breathing deep and soft and easy with the sun just rising (_yes_, he thinks as she opens her wonderful eyes, he _definitely_ likes this).

#46 – Drive

It is humiliating beyond comparison when Akane gets her driving license before Ranma (she makes it up to him later, of course, but it would be lying to say she didn't indulge in her rare victory over her significant other).

#47 – Harm

It is a well known fact that Ranma would tear a man apart for harming his mallet-wielding fiancé, but all of Nerima is stunned into silence at the equally frightening rage Akane displays when an opponent plays dirty and breaks Ranma's arm.

#48 – Precious

"So...um...y'know, A-Akane, it'd be better if I'd... if you...erm...that is...cuz you're...important...t-to me, so...uhh...it'd...it'd be easier to...to protect you if...er...if you were...always...w-with...me...so...uhm...it'd be g-good if we...got m-m-ma-ma-mar...marr...m-m-m-marrie- oh, God help me, I can't even ask her _photo_."

#49 – Hunger

One evening, Ranma marched up to Akane in a simmering, jealous rage and let out a long, angry rant about how _he_ was Akane's fiancé and so she had better give her food to him, him, and _only_ **_him_** (in fact, the reasoning behind his sudden possessive nature was full of misunderstandings about someone making a move on the tomboy, but Akane was pleased by the incident nonetheless- thus...it is better not to question how a slightly rocky relationship develops).

#50 – Believe

They might argue and deny and dance around the issue, but at the end of the day, Ranma and Akane will _always_ _be_ 'Ranma and Akane'.


End file.
